Latest News - Page 137

As part of its latest financial results, Sony CFO Lin Tao addressed ongoing concerns about how the company is handling the current memory and storage crisis affecting the consumer market, specifically regarding PlayStation 5 hardware. According to Lin Tao, Sony has already secured the "minimum quantity necessary" for 2026, including the end-of-year holiday season.

And with that, the company will continue to "further negotiate with various suppliers to secure enough supply to meet the demand of our customers. With over 92 million PlayStation 5 consoles reportedly sold so far, odds are Sony is looking to hit that 100 million figure sooner rather than later. And with that, try to find ways to avoid significant hardware price increases as memory pricing continues to skyrocket.

And with that, Sony's plan to "minimize the impact of the increased memory costs on this segment going forward" is "prioritizing monetization of the installed base." This means passing on the costs to existing PlayStation 5 gamers as opposed to newcomers picking up brand-new consoles.

To the surprise of fans across the globe, Sony has made the decision to shut down Bluepoint Games.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has closed the operations at Austin, Texas-based Bluepoint Games, new reports from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier indicate. The studio closure was made "following a recent business review" from higher-ups, and 70 people will lose employment at the PlayStation branch.

"Bluepoint Games is an incredibly talented team and their technical expertise has delivered exceptional experiences for the PlayStation community. We thank them for their passion, creativity and craftsmanship," a Sony spokesperson tells Bloomberg.

A new leak gives us what could be a look at the core configurations for AMD's Zen 6 desktop CPU range, running up to a 24-core flagship processor.

The theory posted on X by regular leaker HXL (flagged by Wccftech) is that AMD is going to run with 6-core, 8-core, 10-core and 12-core chips - those are the single chiplet models.

Then, AMD will double up on them all save for the baseline six-core model, so there should be two-chiplet models with 16-cores (8+8), 20-cores (10+10) and the 24-core (12+12) flagship.

Starfield's reception isn't on par with mega-hits like Skyrim, but that doesn't mean Bethesda is done with the franchise. Todd Howard indicates that Starfield will live on even after the next major content expansion.

Bethesda only has three franchises--Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Starfield, its newest addition. The studio's space-faring adventure wasn't a major breadwinner, but given the investment involved, Bethesda isn't ready to just discard its latest franchise. Starfield is here to stay...but what does that look like?

Todd Howard offers a few clues. In a recent interview with Kinda Funny Games, the renowned game designer says that Bethesda intends to support Starfield for quite some time. It's unclear whether this means another expansion, various tweaks and changes, or if Bethesda is just going to let paid modders take over with content production.

NVIDIA has revealed the latest bunch of games which are arriving on GeForce Now, and reminded us of just how many titles are supported by the streaming service.

The grand total of games you can play via GeForce Now is over 4,500 as it stands, and NVIDIA is currently celebrating six years of GFN, complete with a community giveaway on the official subreddit.

NVIDIA informs us:

Starfield 2.0 is not happening as Bethesda's Todd Howard officially confirms the studio is not making a major overhaul to the game.

Content-wise, Bethesda isn't finished with Starfield...but the studio isn't interested in writing a major comeback story for the game. Gamers can expect more things like updates and the mysterious new Terran Armada expansion, but a huge Cyberpunk 2077-level revamp is out of the question. The majority of Bethesda is currently tackling Elder Scrolls 6, after all.

In a recent interview with Kinda Funny Games, Todd Howard confirms that the oft-rumored Starfield 2.0 isn't happening. Bethesda has no such plans to dramatically change Starfield's mechanics with a substantial re-release. According to Howard, the new Starfield content will give fans more of what they want--and if you're not already a fan, well, Bethesda isn't doing heavy lifting to win you over.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has been hanging out with engineers from Korean semiconductor giant SK hynix, enjoying some chicken and beer in California, where he teased that "a chip that will surprise the world will be unveiled at GTC next month".

In an exclusive interview with Jensen and Korean media outlet KED, the NVIDIA CEO said: "we're at the beginning of a billion-dollar infrastructure project". While enjoying some chicken and beer with NVIDIA and South Korean engineers, Jensen said: "we're one team with Korean semiconductors".

Jensen met with the KED reporter after having dinner with around 30 NVIDIA and SK hynix engineers at 99 Chicken, a Korea-style fried chicken restaurant in Santa Clara, California. The NVIDIA CEO readily accepted the unscheduled interview request, saying: "ask as much as you want".

Microsoft's latest Windows 11 builds 26100.7918 and 26200.7918, released through its preview channels, have given us a first look at some new features coming to the operating system in the coming weeks. The big one looks to be a new feature coming to the taskbar, a built-in network speed test.

Accessible from the current Wi-Fi or mobile network settings, or right-clicking on the network icon, the new feature automatically opens your default browser to measure internet speeds. This will be handy for laptop users who connect to new networks or move around, as it offers quick access to speed tests for troubleshooting or ensuring they've got a stable connection.

There are several other improvements and new features in the update, including shorter PC resume-from-sleep times, updated storage settings, and improved performance when scanning files. There are also quality-of-life improvements, such as the ability to extract all files when browsing non-ZIP folders.

Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard recently sat down for an interview with Greg Miller on a recent episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast, and even though we didn't get any bombshell revelations like an actual release date for The Elder Scrolls 6, we did get some good news for those looking forward to a proper Skyrim follow-up.

In addition to learning that the majority of the 500+ people studio is now working on the game, alongside Fallout 76, Starfield, and a potential Fallout 3 remaster, we also learned that the team is approaching development with the goal of a 'return to form.' That is, deliver the sort of exploration, story, RPG elements, and freedom seen in games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

"I think we, if you look at our games, we've always evolved," Todd Howard said. "We do have a certain style that we like and our fans like that we want to get better and better at. I think in some ways, in many ways, Fallout 76 and Starfield are a little bit of a creative detour from that classic Elder Scrolls, Fallout, you know, a Skyrim, or a Fallout 3, or a Fallout 4, Oblivion, where you're exploring a world in a certain way."

Intel Graphics Driver 32.0.101.8509 (WHQL Certified) is now available for Arc users, supporting the desktop Intel Arc A Series and B Series, as well as integrated Arc graphics found in Core Ultra, Core Ultra 2, and the new Core Ultra 3 series processors. Basically, all Arc graphics products, and it's an important release because it brings XeSS 3 Multi-Frame Generation support to all Arc gamers.

XeSS 3 Multi Frame Generation, like DLSS 4, leverages AI to generate new frames and interpolate them with traditionally rendered frames to improve smoothness and overall performance in PC games. Using advanced technology that combines previous frame data, motion vectors, depth data, and other elements, XeSS 3 Multi-Frame Generation delivers triple-digit performance while maintaining image fidelity and responsive controls.

What makes this update different from NVIDIA's DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation update that arrived alongside the new GeForce RTX 50 Series last year is that DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation is limited to the RTX 50 Series, as it uses hardware specific to the RTX Blackwell generation. This makes Intel bringing XeSS 3 Multi-Frame Generation to everything from the Intel Arc A770 to the Intel Arc B580 and the latest Core Ultra Series 3 processors, something to celebrate.

Blizzard recently surprised a lot of action-RPG fans by announcing a new class and expansion for the iconic Diablo 2, 25 years after the game's last major expansion, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Released for the impressive Diablo II: Resurrected remaster, Diablo II: Reign of the Warlock introduces a brand-new playable class, multiple quality of life updates, and an overhauled endgame.

Now, the action-RPG landscape has changed significantly since Diablo created the genre, with one of the most notable releases in recent years being Path of Exile from the New Zealand-based Grinding Gear Games. As an action-RPG released in the modern era of live service games, Path of Exile has received well over 60 meaningful updates since its debut, with the sequel Path of Exile 2 currently experiencing regular updates as an Early Access release.

As Path of Exile was born from a love of Diablo 2, one of the creators and lead designers, Chris Wilson, has posted a new video on his personal YouTube channel to share his thoughts on Diablo II: Reign of the Warlock. From praise to some respectful criticisms, here are some of the highlights.

NVIDIA's DLSS has been the gold standard for PC gaming upscaling for several years, improving performance while maintaining excellent image quality. At CES 2026 in January, NVIDIA announced and released DLSS 4.5, featuring a new, improved DLSS Super Resolution powered by an advanced AI Transformer model. The result is better-than-native image quality with lost detail restored, which was our impression after going hands-on with the new technology.

Although most of the negative sentiment surrounding DLSS is around using AI for Frame Generation and the perception that the performance-enhancing technology has become a crutch for some developers, there are still a lot of PC gamers who refuse to enable any form of upscaling or DLSS-like tech in favor of maintaining a pure, natively rendered image. And with that, German publication ComputerBase decided to conduct a 'Blind Test' with over 1,000 participants.

The goal was to see which gamers preferred for image quality: Native rendering, NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, or AMD FSR Upscaling (ML) or FSR 4. With the test covering six games, the results delivered a clear winner - NVIDIA DLSS 4.5. With an average of 48.2% choosing DLSS, 24.0% choosing native rendering, and 15% choosing FSR 4, it's a strong case for DLSS upscaling as a key component of PC gaming in 2026.

Cyberpunk 2077 has been shown off running at between 720p @ 20-50FPS on a Red Magic 11 Pro smartphone, powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor through PC emulation. Check it out:

ETA Prime used the GameSir GameHub as the front end on the Red Magic 11 Pro, running the Windows PC version of Cyberpunk 2077 on the Arm-powered SoC.

The YouTuber tested at 720p output with the lowest in-game visual settings, FSR 2.1 on Balanced, and Frame Generation disabled. The results weren't too bad, with the on-screen FPS counter recording around 30FPS, while dipping to the high 20FPS range during heavier loads in gameplay.

Most of Bethesda Game Studios is currently working on The Elder Scrolls 6, including some outside partners, but the game is still a ways off from release.

Ahead of Bethesda's 40th anniversary, Todd Howard gives a quick status update on TES6's development during a lengthy Kinda Funny Games Q&A livestream.

Howard reveals some surprises, including a next-gen Creation Engine 3 upgrade for Elder Scrolls 6 and other future games like Fallout 5.

Bethesda has spent multiple years upgrading its Creation Engine to ensure The Elder Scrolls 6 uses the studio's best-yet technology.

Todd Howard dropped an interesting surprise during today's Kinda Funny Games livestream, confirming that the next big Elder Scrolls game is being made with next-gen tech. Bethesda quietly built a major new iteration to its RPG toolset and is using the latest version, the Creation Engine 3, to build The Elder Scrolls 6.

"We've spent the last several years bringing Creation Engine 2, which powers Starfield, up to Creation Engine 3, which is going to power Elder Scrolls 6 and beyond," Howard said.

A high-value Tencent subsidiary helped fund contentious live shooter Highguard, sources tell Game File's Stephen Totilo. It's also been revealed that Tencent is on the advisory board of The Game Awards, and fans are questioning a potential conflict of interests regarding Geoff Keighley's decision to air the Highguard trailer at TGA 2024.

The Highguard story has taken a surprise turn. New reports from Game File indicate that Highguard's development was financed by TiMi Studios, a lucrative gaming group owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent. TiMi Studios is a major subsidiary responsible for mobile hits like Arena of Valor and Honor of Kings, both of which have generated over $18 billion in combined player spending.

The news has seemingly cast those involved in a bad light, and gamers are now distrustful of the publisher, the higher-ups at Wildlight who may have known about Tencent's involvement, and even Geoff Keighley, the host of The Game Awards showcase. It was originally believed that Keighley had chosen to showcase Highguard at The Game Awards 2024 out of hype and interest in the game itself, however fans are now second-guessing this sentiment because Tencent is actually part of The Game Awards' advisory board.

NZXT has just launched its latest stylish and impressive compact case, the H2 Flow Mini-ITX. With its fine-mesh panels, 20.7L vertical GPU-mounted tower design, and toolless construction, NZXT is aiming to make small-form-factor (SFF) builds more viable, accessible, and powerful than ever.

In addition to the standalone case, which supports liquid cooling and modern GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards, NZXT is launching an all-in-one H2 Mini PC powered by a GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 5080. As one of the most powerful 4K gaming cards on the market, the impressive compact H2 Mini PC is small enough to fit on any desk or sit comfortably in a living room.

NZXT confirms that the H2 Mini PC will only be available in the US. Even though it's priced at $3,499 USD for both the AMD and Intel CPU variants, it packs some impressive hardware. In addition to the GeForce RTX 5080, you've got your choice of an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D or an Intel Core Ultra 9 285 K, both paired with 32GB of DDR5 memory and 2TB of M.2 storage.

NZXT is introducing its latest Mini-ITX case, the H2 Flow Mini-ITX, for compact small-form-factor (SFF) systems. A compact, vertical case with a 20.7-liter volume, the H2 Flow minimizes desk space (it's also tailor-made for a living room PC gaming setup) without sacrificing performance, as it still supports liquid cooling for the CPU and modern GeForce RTX and Radeon RX graphics cards.

The fine-mesh panels, which maximize airflow and filter dust, are also removable for easy component installation. The toolless design is all about making installation as easy as possible, even though the SFF form factor is inherently space-limited. On that note, the H2 Flow will have no issue supporting the installation of AIO liquid coolers with radiators up to 280mm long, as well as GPUs up to 331mm long, which is enough to install an SFF-Ready GeForce RTX 5080.

With the vertical orientation, the H2 Flow includes a pre-installed premium PCIe 5.0 riser cable, ensuring airflow around the GPU remains unobstructed. The H2 Flow also features built-in cable routing with straps to ensure a clean look and includes two pre-installed quiet NZXT F120Q fans to exhaust heat through the top.

Last week, several Steam users began to notice that Valve's Steam Deck was 'out of stock' in several regions. Covering all three models, the Steam Deck 256GB LCD, the Steam Deck 512GB OLED, and the Steam Deck 1TB OLED, many began to wonder if the shortages were due to the current memory and storage crisis causing chaos in the consumer market.

The unprecedented increase in memory pricing and the general unavailability of stock, due to most memory and storage being diverted to AI data centers, have already delayed Valve's planned early 2026 launch of the Steam Machine. Although Valve recently committed to releasing the Steam Machine in the first half of 2026, the current expectation is that it will likely arrive in limited quantities and at an inflated, higher-than-originally-planned price point.

So, yeah, seeing the Steam Deck, Valve's popular PC gaming handheld, suddenly go 'out of stock,' led to some genuine concern. Well, thanks to an update on the official Steam Deck store page, it looks like those concerns were valid, as the "memory and storage shortages" have caused the Steam Deck to become unavailable in several regions.

MSI's new flagship GeForce RTX 5090 LIGHTNING Z graphics card is on eBay right now, priced at between $7785 and an eye-watering $14,999.

The card is still in stock in the UK, priced at £4999, which works out to around $6827 USD or so, so if you're in the UK and have the money ready, you're good to go. However, if you're not and you need to rely on eBay, there are "buy it now" prices of between $7785 and $14,999... yes, just a dollar short of fifteen thousand dollars.

MSI is only making 1300 units of its new RTX 5090 LIGHTNING Z, with around 100-200 units provided to reviewers and influencers. In the US and Taiwan, MSI hosted a lottery-style draw for your chance just to buy the card.